‘Nek Minnit’ Legend Levi Hawken Reflects on Viral Fame: “I Definitely Was Not Prepared for It”
Fifteen years after his accidental rise to internet fame, the man behind one of New Zealand’s most iconic memes opens up about how it changed his life — for better and worse.
When Levi Hawken and his mates filmed a short, offhand clip back in 2011, they had no idea they were about to create one of New Zealand’s most recognisable memes.
“It was all just a joke,” he says. “I didn’t really know that it was going to get that big. I think by the time I realised, it was sort of like, how do you control this?”
The now-infamous video — where Hawken, standing beside his broken scooter, mutters the phrase “nek minnit” — became a global phenomenon overnight. It was quoted by celebrities, plastered across merchandise, and endlessly remixed online. But for Hawken, the sudden attention wasn’t all fun and fame.
The meme’s explosion brought Hawken instant recognition, but also an overwhelming level of public attention. “When people sort of yell at me ... I sort of freak out. Like I get it, it like freaks me out a little bit,” he admits.
While the “nek minnit” catchphrase isn’t shouted at him every day anymore, he says it’s rare for a week to go by without someone recognising him. The unwanted fame eventually pushed him away from the skate parks he loved and into the peace of the hills, where he could escape the noise and focus on his other passion — downhill speed riding.
But with time, Hawken has come to see the experience differently. “I feel like, you know, because to me like skateboarding in the streets and living a life of art is, that's what art is,” he says. “And so, to me it was just kind of like another spontaneous piece of art that I accidentally created.”
Despite the video racking up more than 8 million views on YouTube, Hawken says he never made any money from it — and still doesn’t know who uploaded it in the first place. “It’s a very strange phenomenon,” he reflects. “And I definitely was not prepared for it.”
Fifteen years on, the “nek minnit” moment remains part of New Zealand’s pop culture history — a time capsule of the early internet age, when a few seconds of spontaneity could change a life forever.
Story sourced from 1News